Operations Manager/ Chief Estimator
Tompkins Excavating
If a company is lucky, it has a master of all trades on its staff — someone who can do any number of jobs and do them well. At Tompkins Excavating, Kevin Tompkins is that someone.
Tompkins is operations manager and chief estimator at his family’s excavation company, which works across Westchester and Putnam. With a degree in civil engineering from Northeastern University, Tompkins — who is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers — has helped the company become among the first in the region to introduce intelligent equipment with GPS automation.
“As a younger person in an old industry, I was always intrigued by new technology advancements with the excavation business,” Tompkins says.
But engineering is just one part of his role. He also helps oversee the company’s finances, interview and onboard new hires, manage the company website and social media, and is a familiar face at industry conferences. Tompkins also develops new business, selling and managing between $5 million and $7 million worth of projects each year.
His vigor isn’t a surprise to those around him — Tompkins has always been precocious. He earned his commercial driver’s license before he was 20 and was once a nationally ranked competitive motocross racer. “I was practicing and training three to five days per week,” he recalls. “I competed in nearly 4,500 races.”
Going forward, Tompkins has plans to add a civil engineering division to the firm. “Projects would entail anything from commercial shopping centers to subdivisions for new neighborhoods to athletic facilities,” he says.
